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Patagonia to Donate 100 Percent of Black Friday Sales to Eco-Causes

Patagonia is getting into the holiday spirit, with a twist. Instead of shuttering its stores the day after Thanksgiving, as it did last year, the outdoor-apparel retailer will do business on what is traditionally—and sometimes derisively—considered the start of the year-end shopping frenzy: Black Friday. But don’t mistake the decision for a shift in the company’s famously anti-consumerist stance. (This is the firm that placed a full-page ad in the New York Times imploring its customers not to buy its products, after all.) Patagonia says it will donate 100 percent of its global Black Friday proceeds to grassroots organizations working to “protect our air, water and soil for future generations.”

100 PERCENT FOR THE PLANET

The sentiment is particularly apt as America braces itself for a Donald J. Trump presidency, and the dismantling of environmental standards that are almost certain to follow. “These are small groups, often underfunded and under the radar, who work on the front lines,” Rose Marcario, CEO of Patagonia, wrote in a blog post. “The support we can give is more important now than ever,” she added.

“During a difficult and divisive time, we felt it was important to go further and connect more of our customers, who love wild places, with those who are fighting tirelessly to protect them,” Marcario said. “This we know: If we don’t act boldly, severe changes in climate, water and air pollution, extinction of species and erosion of topsoil are certain outcomes. The threats facing our planet affect people of every political stripe, of every demographic, in every part of the country. We all stand to benefit from a healthy environment—and our children and grandchildren do, too.”

Marcario said that she and Patagonia will fight “harder and smarter” for the sake of the country and the planet.